1. Field of the Invention
Heavy loads have long been moved by stacking the load on a pallet and then lifting the loaded pallet with a fork truck. The pallets originally used in the art were made of wood but these pallets had numerous disadvantages. First, the labor and material costs involved in producing wooden pallets were relatively high. As a consequence of these high costs, the recipient of goods shipped upon wooden pallets was often required to return the pallets to the shipper or supplier for reuse. This, of course, resulted in higher shipping costs. Additionally, wooden pallets generally could not be easily disassembled to lie flat thereby necessitating excess storage space when not in use. Finally, wooden pallets are relatively heavy thereby adding to shipping costs as well as making it difficult to manually move the pallets from one position to another. Plastic and metals have also been suggested as materials for the production of pallets but the resulting pallets have suffered from essentially the same disadvantages as wooden pallets.
As a result of the disadvantages of wooden, plastic, and metal pallets, prior art workers have long endeavored to construct pallets of other material. Foldable material, such as corrugated paper board, has been frequently suggested as an alternative material for the construction of pallets. This invention relates to an improved pallet constructed of foldable material such as corrugated paper board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As indicated above, prior art workers have frequently suggested that pallets be constructed of foldable material such as corrugated paper board. One prior art structure, U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,376 to Anderson et al, requires four component parts and further requires complex hinged joints to permit the pallet to be flattened when not in use. Another prior art structure, U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,534 to Childs, requires a complicated folding operation including stitching or stapling the component parts together to provide the final structure. Yet another structure, U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,183 to Cahners, requires both multiple component parts and the use of staples, adhesives or other fastening means. Other prior art structures represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,464,371 to Gifford, 3,302,593 to Roberts, 3,131,656 to Houle, 3,115,105 to Allen, and 2,446,914 to Fallert et al require complex multiple components or external fastening means or both.
The closest prior art pallet of which we are aware, U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,715 to Farrell, suffers from the same disadvantages as the prior art pallets noted above. First, the Farrell pallet requires at least three blanks while the pallet of our invention requires only two blanks. Additionally, the Farrell pallet requires stapling to secure the center support cell and overlying flaps while our structure is especially designed so that no external securing means are required. As a consequence of the differences, it is readily apparent that our pallet is more readily assembled and disassembled to lie flat than the Farrell pallet. Disassembly is particularly burdensome in the preferred embodiment of the Farrell pallet due to the complicated cell structure required. Additionally, the Farrell structure is weakened by the numerous staplings and unstaplings required during repeated assemblies and disassemblies.
It will be further noted that the Farrell pallet is provided with only two sets of truck fork lift holes. The pallet of our invention is superior in yet another way, since it provides for up to four sets of fork lift holes thereby permitting entry from any side of the pallet.